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The price of silver today (Monday) surged above $30 an ounce for the first time since 1980, after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that further quantitative easing (QE) could be on the way.

Silver futures have gained almost 70% since August, when expectations of more QE were first discussed. Since then, the Federal Reserve has set about purchasing $600 billion of U.S. Treasuries and the Fed Chairman said on Sunday that more debt purchases are "certainly possible."

The result was a rally in precious metals, which played host to investors looking to preserve their wealth against further depreciation. The price of silver topped $30 for the first time since 1980, soaring as high as $30.09 an ounce in afternoon trading.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE ADR: HBC) were hit with two lawsuits Wednesday by investors alleging the companies conspired to drive down silver prices and gain hundreds of millions of dollars on short positions.

Two traders, Brian Beatty and Peter Laskaris, are accusing the big banks of attempting to manipulate the market for silver futures and options contracts since 2008. The complaints allege the defendants gained millions "if not billions of dollars in profits" by suppressing silver futures and making their short positions on the metal more lucrative.

The plaintiffs said they traded COMEX silver futures and options contracts and lost money due to the manipulation. Laskaris alleges that the banks informed each other of large trades and flooded the market with a disproportionate number of orders, according to Forbes.

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If there's one thing that I've discovered in my careers as a hedge-fund manager, investment advisor and financial columnist, it's this: Whenever you pitch a stock that has something to do with mining or metals, you'll always hear the argument that "physical metal is better."

As my experience has demonstrated, however, that's not necessarily true.

Wealth protection in hard economic times is driven by asset diversification. In good times, an investor should concentrate their investment bets on profitable enterprises, in hard times you want to diversify your assets across different asset classes. You will lose some money, but if you choose wisely, you will have real assets and value on the other side.

That's not always the case when you concentrate your assets during a period in which there's substantial market risk.

Gold has set a series of all-time record highs over the past five weeks, topping $1,350 an ounce for the first time ever as the dollar slipped to its lowest level since early January. Silver, while still well short of the $50-plus-per-ounce record it set when the Hunt brothers tried to corner the market in 1979, spiked to its highest price in 30 years and almost five times the sub-$5.00 levels it traded at from late 2000 to 2003.

The combination of bullish fundamentals, strong technical patterns and the persistent price advance has pushed coverage of gold and silver from the pages of specialty metals newsletters and Web sites to headline status in the mainstream media, stoking soaring investor interest in the process.

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Have you ever wanted to invest in a company that owned the supply of a product at a nice fixed rate of cost, but was able to leverage the upside, but not have to take any risk in actually making the product? How about if it's something inherently dangerous and expensive with bad margins like mining?

In the case of Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW) we have a very interesting investment vehicle, because the company does not have to take additional risks to grow its production numbers. Silver Wheaton owns the rights to silver production from mines that produce it as a bi-product. This allows the company to enjoy a growing supply curve, while protecting its balance sheet.

It has already purchased these rights upfront for cash, helping some miners with their capital costs to open a new mine. As these mines ramp up production in whatever primary product they are producing, Silver Wheaton gets access to the silver produced as a bi-product.

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Despite its name, junk silver is not junk.

Indeed, the term "junk silver" is actually a misnomer, since this form of silver investing has provided excellent returns over the past decade. Junk silver consists of U.S. quarters, dimes, and half-dollars minted before 1965, since coins struck before that time contain 90% silver and 10% copper.

But junk silver's real attraction is that it offers investors the best of both the two possible investing extremes that seem to be attainable right now:

First and foremost, during intense bull markets in silver - like the one we're experiencing right now - junk silver tends to outshine (and outperform) silver bullion.

But if some of investors' darkest fears are realized, and the U.S. government's overenthusiastic printing of money were to transform the greenback into so much worthless paper, then 90% of U.S. silver coins would be used for the purpose they were originally minted - as money that can be spent.

The yellow metal has now rallied for five straight trading sessions and is up about 18% for the year. Investors are waking up to the fact that the central bank's plan to use U.S. Treasury purchases as a means of injecting another $2.3 trillion into the U.S. economy is only going to further debase the greenback.

There's no doubt that the ongoing slide in the dollar is going to be bullish for gold. But investors will do a lot better to focus on silver - the "other" precious metal.

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Investors worried about the global economic recovery pushed gold prices to fresh highs on Friday, marking the third time in a week the shiny metal set a new record. Silver also climbed to its highest price in thirty years.

Spot gold climbed above $1,282 an ounce in New York and London as a weakening dollar spurred demand from investors for wealth protection, while silver rose to $21.44 an ounce, its highest level since 1980.

Bullion, which usually moves inversely to the dollar, posted its biggest weekly gain since May as the greenback touched a five-week low against the euro.

Holdings in gold- backed exchange-traded products (ETP) reached a record this month as investors sought protection from financial turmoil and the prospect of slowing economic growth.

Barnes detailed why silver is poised for a breakout, based on its current price surge underway in India, the price run up of gold - a leading indicator of silver prices - and the fact that the white metal has yet to set a new nominal record price in U.S. dollars.

Barnes outlined the actions investors should take to involve silver in their investment plans, offering three strategies: physical acquisition and accumulation, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and stocks, and options on futures.

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China ended up being the big story this month, as investors looked past Europe to the Far East for clues about what shape the global recovery - if you can even call it that - is taking.

Markets around the globe tanked yesterday (Tuesday) after the Conference Board revised its leading economic index for China to show the smallest gain in five months in April. The index rose just 0.3% in April, which was a significant reduction from the 1.7% gain the Board reported on June 19.

The news of the error contributed to the biggest sell-off in Chinese stocks in more than a month, and sent U.S. indices into a dizzying downward spiral. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 268.22 points, or 2.65%, to close at 9,870.30 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 33.33 points, or 3.10%, to close at 1,041.24.